Research in Social Movements, Conflict, and Change (RSMCC)
Call for Papers for Volume 45

Commemorating Violent Conflicts and Building Sustainable Peace

This is a Special Issue of Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the May 4, 1970 shooting by the Ohio National Guard of Kent State students during a demonstration against the US wars in Vietnam and Cambodia and the occupation of the Kent State campus by the Ohio National Guard in Kent, OH, USA. 

Documenting violence, delivering accountability, and providing evidence-based insight into the causes, consequences, and ways forward are critical steps in peacebuilding following violent conflicts on campus and in communities. As the Kent State experience demonstrates, memorializing, commemorating, and understanding are equally important responses—particularly when the violence has been nation-states using violence against their own citizens. Scholarship on memorialization, peace activism, state responses, and peacebuilding have blossomed in recent decades. This volume seeks to further this key work. 

Paper Submissions Due by January 15th, 2020 

This volume welcomes paper submissions with the following themes: 

Peace Activism in Higher Education 

• Student activism on May 4th, 1970 at Kent State 
• Student movements for/against the Vietnam War 
• Other historical cases of student non-violent movements 
• Suppression, outcomes, and/or support of student non-violence on college campuses 
• Current student movements and their outcomes/ influence 

State-Sponsored Violence 

• U.S. National Guard’s role on May 4th, 1970 at Kent State 
• State violence in higher education (exp. Jackson State shootings, Orangeburg Massacre, Gwangju Uprising or others across the world) 
• State violence against civilians in non-violent movements 
• Police violence 
• Legislation and proposed legislation regarding control of public protest 

Peacebuilding Post State-Violence against Youth and in Higher Education 

• Overcoming Town/Gown divides 
• Memorializing and commemorating violence, including the legacy of May 4th, 1970 at Kent State (including museums, art, architecture, monuments, etc.) 
• The role of higher education in activism, critical thinking, legislation, etc. related to violence 
• Understanding violence (mapping, analysis, etc.) as a tool to prevent future violence 
• Reconciliation, Transitional Justice, and Restorative Justice Efforts in communities, especially those with generations of state-community violence 
• Teaching/Pedagogy related to any of the above topics 

About the Series 

RSMCC is a fully peer-reviewed series of original research that has been published annually for over 40 years. We continue to publish the work of many of the leading scholars in social movements, social change, nonviolent action, and peace and conflict studies. 

Although RSMCC enjoys a wide library subscription base for the book versions, all volumes are published not only in book form but are also available online through Emerald Social Science eBook Series Collection via subscribing libraries or individual subscriptions. This ensures wider distribution and easier access to your scholarship while maintaining the book series at the same time. This title is indexed in Scopus and volumes from this series are included in the Thomson Reuters Book Citation Index. 

Submissions 

To be considered for inclusion in Volume 45, papers must arrive by January15, 2020. Earlier submissions are especially welcomed. Initial decisions are generally made within 12 weeks. Manuscripts accepted for this volume will have gone through double-blind peer review. 

Send submission as a WORD document attached to an email to Guest Editor for Volume 45 Johanna Solomon at jsolom14@kent.edu. For initial submissions, any standard social science in-text citation and bibliographic system is acceptable. Remove all self-references in the text and in the bibliography. Word counts should generally not exceed 12,000 words, inclusive of supplemental materials (abstract, tables, bibliography, notes, etc.). Include the paper’s title and an unstructured abstract on the first page of the text itself. Send a second file that contains the article title, the unstructured abstract, and full contact information for all authors. 

Any questions can be directed to Volume 45’s Guest Editor, Johanna Solomon at jsolom14@kent.edu or Series Editor, Lisa Leitz at rsmcc@chapman.edu.

Pre-Registration Deadline (to remain on the program):
August 1